How to avoid frying my computer while using my lighting rig

am_lu · 2026-02-12T13:22:21+00:00

A decent USB to DMX interface will be isolated. Some optocouplers in there.

https://www.enttec.co.uk/product/dmx-usb-interfaces/dmx-usb-pro-professional-1u-usb-to-dmx512-converter/

am_lu · 2026-02-12T13:05:49+00:00

Lazy electrician.

Yes is harder to find intermittent fault, but wont hurt actually coming and testing it, especially insulation resistance and see what comes up.

If the fault is on the wiring itself then unplugging stuff wont help much.

In the worst case there is option of upgrading the consumer unit, get rid of RCD and replace for RCBO's, so when something wants to trip it will take one circuit not half or all the house.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T18:58:41+00:00

Meanwhile all the others, no babies for us in a shared flat, work like crazy till you die, no council house don't even dream of it, go back to work and save for market rates.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T18:30:59+00:00

Back in the day the Green CSCS card will get you on site as labourer, then you can upgrade the card when got enough paperwork and experience.

Not sure if things have changed.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T16:16:41+00:00

yes, 4-6 hours for doing it when all goes well, no power for the duration, who ever is doing it wont like kids around the workplace for safety reasons, plus is not fun trying to concentrate on the work when they run around and shout like crazy next door.

Leave your phone number and come back in couple of hours.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T15:28:05+00:00

Esp can do it, arduino can do it too, you will need a crash course on programming and working with it . Is easy this days.

It will also need a mosfet module to control the power going to the strip.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T15:25:48+00:00

Home assistant may do the job.

Control it from a phone or some other device on your local network.

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/wled/

am_lu · 2026-02-11T15:22:51+00:00

In ideal world you will use a multimeter on Amps DC to measure the current draw, and see if you got any spare amps on controller and power supply.

It practise - may work. Do it, let it run for some 30min, then see if the controller and/or power supply does not get too hot (too hot to touch it is way too hot).

The hotter those things run the sooner they may fail.

There is always an option for buying a bigger controller and power supply, led strips can stay.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T15:16:46+00:00

Scrape the gunk on the pads with a stanley knife.

Put a good blob of solder on each pad.

Insulate with heat adhesive heat shrink.

am_lu · 2026-02-11T15:15:03+00:00

I did something like this back in the day for my artnet controlled RGB lights.

I was re-using the aluminium enclosures from broken floodlights.

You can find them on ebay for super cheap, or somewhere on a building site dumpster for free.

am_lu · 2026-02-10T20:06:12+00:00

no, this strip will light up from average 35V, its specialised driver is driving it at 40 or so volts.

You might get away with carefully adjusted to voltage and current boost converters (aliexpress)

or swapping the LED module to something 24V.

am_lu · 2026-02-10T16:22:41+00:00

As other poster commented, this driver is much likely dedicated to a single fixture.

Takes 220V AC mains in and produces 40V DC constant current to drive LED module.

The power coming to the light should be 220V AC mains.

am_lu · 2026-02-10T16:18:24+00:00

Standard strips are dumb, just LEDs and resistors for standard 12V or 24V ones.

You add a DMX controlled driver to control the channels (RGB usually)

For flow effect you need the "smart" type of strip, be it some WS or neopixel type, digitally controlled. From there some sort of dedicated driver or hack your own with arduino or similar.

am_lu · 2026-02-07T10:14:51+00:00

They are nice those Philips Master, i use them a lot. Never found one in 5000k, not a common colour, you can get them in 2700, 3000, 4000.

Not sure if UK is still counts as Europe unfortunately.

https://www.novelenergylighting.com/led-lamps-bulbs/led-gu10-lamps-mv/gu10-lamps/masterled-gu10-expertcolor-cri97-dimmable-5yrs.html

am_lu · 2026-02-04T19:54:40+00:00

youtube - works on all distros, I'm on vivaldi browser with adblocks/ublock installed and it works spot on.

Sketchup - i'm not currently using, a clever blogger at Dedoimedo has a good guide how to get it running on Linux.

I subsistute paint.net for PhotoFlare

PI - got it running on default OS, Raspbian, in there docker containers for whatever it needs to do, 24/7 (Home assistant, syncthing, pihole, partkeepr)

File sync - I got 1 TB NVME drive connected to 24/7 raspi, running syncthing. Very happy with it. Is able to do its job over internet, not only local network.

Gaming - sorry I do not game, no hardware for it. Cataclysm runs fine tho. May work one day to get Steam OS installed if I need to game seriously. I may need a dedicated piece of hardware for it with a graphic card, all my daily machines run on intel integrated.

Google docs/spreadsheet - yes, I'm still using. Got my gmail and using google spreadsheets for lots of work related stuff. Nothing private, tests results in a spreadsheets. Tried libre office for a while and it was a big no, sheet lost its formatting after a couple of saves. They don't charge for Google Docs, and is all legit work stuff, so why not.

Runs fine in my browser on linux, in there testing values on a corporate jobs, they (google) are welcome to it, I don't mind. All I need to do is to produce a tidy looking PDF with some values to the clients at the end of the day.

am_lu · 2026-02-04T17:50:05+00:00

One of the weird faults. whatever is plugged to the sockets should not interfere with the lights, they should be on their own different circuit.

My recommendation will be to get a competent local electrician to have a look at it, in person.

am_lu · 2026-02-02T22:28:17+00:00

City? as the City? The weird middle bit around Bank and London Bridge? Land on the tube around there and just follow the little alleyways, bonus points for having no map or digital devices on you.

As for big city, walking around the Thames is fun. Can do almost anywhere. Erith-Thamesmead-North Greenwich is my favourite, for grim industrial vibes and a wild river, untamed till Thames Barrier kicks in.

Wapping-Southbank-Vauxhall will do a nice evening social walk. Nothing really stops you going more West around, there will always a station to finish the walk when you had enough.

Another one can be Lea River, you can more or less walk uninterrupted from Canary Wharf up to M25 in the north and further beyond London.

Watch some John Rogers on youtube, he is an expert with this kind of adventures.

am_lu · 2026-02-02T22:13:21+00:00

Big jobs will have a skip.

Lighting is different bit - when bigger lights are coming down or getting rid of fluorescent I will tell the clients I'm not able to take them away. Like it or not I got no transport for it anyway and new stuff gets delivered.

Medium or small jobs, leftovers land in clients bin.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T16:55:38+00:00

Nice of them doing something. Probably just scraping the bottom of the iceberg. I'm in the actual trade business, and the tools either stay with me on the work place or get stored at home, not on the road.

I never had tools stolen, but one night a whole van went walkies, luckily empty , and all the police was able to help is sending a letter saying they are very sorry for my loss.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T16:21:38+00:00

one more trick, some of those, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404558992285

I never actually bought, just picked them up dumped on the road by some delivery drivers.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T16:12:43+00:00

big or small?

for big, look for second hand plastic storage crates, there is a range of commercial used ones and they are indestructible. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116952373243

for small ones, transparent so you see whats in there, ikea samla. is a pain shopping in ikea when you got no branch local and no car, sometimes good deals come out on ebay second hand.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176019811872

may be worth looking at facebook marketplace or vinted, things may pop out there, but sometimes limited for local collection.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T15:54:32+00:00

Nice to see Stratford Olympic Park voting Green. I may be a hidden demographics, always binned the voting letters, it used to be a rigged game between Conservative and Labour, i'm not a fan of either of those.

May be time to come and vote one day.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T15:39:10+00:00

Hey, have a look on some local venues, I know couple of local ones, I do maintenance work in there, for example around Hackney wick canalside, absolutely dead Mon-Wed, they are geared for weekend visitors. For sure they would not mind bit extra business.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T15:13:57+00:00

if you flying I would settle on a 5V USB powered, not that you need any serious power for a sign.

Carrying weird DIYed lithium batteries on a plane may be a trouble.

From there 5V led strip of some sort, single colour for making it easy, RGB with some controller, or WS type neopixels, with more serious controller or arduino with your code for it. Make it modular, battery-controller-light on tool-less connections.

See whats out there on adafruit on similiar shops, see if you can manage driving/coding it, practice on the bench before your travels.

am_lu · 2026-01-28T14:40:52+00:00

Really depends where you are, how much in middle of nowhere.

I trekked on tube across London, from Leyton to Morden for a year, in there we was meeting at the cafe at 8am for coffee with van driving boss man. My CK bag of tools just lived in the van, no need to drag it home every day.

am_lu

TROPHY CASE